tv Capital News Today CSPAN January 6, 2010 11:00pm-2:00am EST
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going and have the capacity and eat is going to be really a market that they unfortunately are going to, if not control, have a major say in how it is accessed. so we have a lot of work to do. we're trying to come up with some follow-on actions to the copenhagen meeting. it was not obviously what people had hoped for, but it did give us a starting point to make the case that we have to make. and transferring and mitigating and technology are all part of that. .
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those amounts would swamp current development assistance. what's the prospect for making that assistance truly additional, so it doesn't rob peter to pay paul, and secondly, what are your plans for implementation within the u.s. government. would it be teleusaid, or separate? how would it be coordinated? >> some of it would be through usaid and the state department and some would be through contributions to multilateral institutions like the world bank. we are just beginning to work out how best to deliver thon commitment.
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it's a fair question, fred, how much of it is additive and how much of it is out of the current budget. we don't know that yet, because we don't know what the congress is going to do. we obviously believe that this is a critical point. we would hope that with the stimulus money, we will actually be competitive on some of the technology, american technology, which we would very much like to see used, because i know that that will be of particular concern to members of congress, but i think we're just starting to try to figure out how we're going to implement this. and the accord itself is going to be the subject of meetings through the the year, we're looking hard at that's we best format for realizing this. the meeting at copenhagen was not a particularly well
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organized effort, in part because there were many countries that wanted to avoid any kind of commitment and made their voices, unfortunately, loud. so we have an enormous amount of work to do. but the commitment is real, we intend to follow through on it. state, usda and treasury will be the big parts of it. there was a piece out of energy, that secretary chu will lead on, so there's going to be a whole government effort, but the bulk of the work will come through us. >> i was very encouraged to hear you refer to the advanced mrkt commitment, the idea of spending money at home that can help people abroad. on mitigation and adaptation, i hope usaid and policy people there will take the position that 90%, maybe even 100% of the
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investments are development investments. we have an excellent paper by my colleague, david wheeler, that points out that looking back at how resilient countries are to floods and disasters, the single most effective investment has been girls' education. i have several other distinguished board members here, i want to see if they -- mark brown -- former board members, do any of you want to take the floor? mark? mark, introduce yourself, i think everybody knows. >> i'm a board member of c.t.d. >> to be able to say on behalf of non-americans in this room, i think your message today, madam secretary, your team, this vision, will be hugely well received all over the world.
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but let me just ask two very quick questions. first you talked about the need sometimes to do things for strategic reasons, even if the development returns are not as high as they might be somewhere else. crudely puts, -- put, that means how much for afghanistan and how much for africa. i'd be interested in your comments on how you're going to manage that important balance. the second point, as one who admired u.s. i.d. for years, one of its biggest difficulties is not -- usaid for yearsering one of its biggest difficulties is the fact that its political masters have shied away when it comes under attack buzz a development project has gone wrong an development projects do go wrong. it's a risky, difficult business. i would urge you to recognize, as i think you did in that speech, you have to fight very hard, very often with the congress and others to defend
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usaid, because it gets into a raveg of a crouch, wondering what it dare do for fear that one day there'll be a congressional invest, that's led to, if you like, a lack of imagination and risk taking in development, not just u.s. development but multilateral as well, which i hope with your leadership will be corrected. >> hopefully we'll avoid making a lot of mistakes. but of course, that is inevitable in a human undertaking and we will certainly, you know, support well thought out but unfortunately unsuccessful efforts, but we want to avoid the i could've told you so. we want to avoid that. there are certain things that that's why we're focusing on the country-led partnership. we want to avoid doing something that makes sense in washington that makes absolutely no sense on the ground in the country. so as much as we can, avoiding
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that, and obviously, we're all on the same team, we're going to defend our teammates, i think that the question about money for afghanistan versus africa, it was a little bit difficult to answer because we have many interests in both places. i went to africa on a long trip in august and in part to try to see what we could do and do better, but also to try to prod countries, particularly resource rich countries to try to invest in their own people. the oil curse is alive and well in countries. the failure to deal with corruption, with violence, is alive and well. and it's heartbreaking because there's so much that could be done but we are -- we're having to change the minds of both government and private sector
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leaders in order to achieve the kind of objectives we're looking for. i had susan levine, and i saw byron. susan and then byron. >> hi, susan. >> hi there. such an honor to be here today, what a wonderful speech. you mentioned in your speech the idea, i thought it was really important what you said about people in this country not understanding how their tax dollars are being used, why they're being used outside the country. you talked about transparency. i wonder if you could ewill be rate a bit on what you mean. that's been an issue that we've all felt, any of us who have been in the government at some time have known it's very hard to go to my home constituent of north dakota and talk about, you know, what we're doing in countries far away when farmers are having their issues. how are you going to be transsnarnte >> first we have to eliminate
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some of the myths. you've seen the same surveys i have, when people complain about how much money we spend on foreign aid, and when you ask, how much money do you think we spend? and they say 10% or 20% of our budget and we say, no, we spend less than 1%, we have to sort of set the table so people know what we're spending and what we're spending it on and how it actually benefits our country and the people of our country, but that's why i included this in the speech, because i think that's a major part of our responsibility. i don't think that raj or i or anybody else can expect to have the support we're looking for unless we make the case and i'm more than happy to make the case. i think, too, when it comes to transparency, that's why we've got to do a better job of explaining what we do, how we do it and what the results are. it's not enough for people, no matter how passionately they
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feel in the development world, to say, it's the right thing to do, we have a moral obligation to do it, that's all true. but you've got to go the next step and say, here's how we're doing it, here's the results we're getting, it's not just because it is the moral and right thing to do, albeit that is right, but because it is smart and important and here's why. especially in this tight economic time, there are a lot of americans who feel that they are far more deserving of their government's help and you know, you've got to recognize that. if you don't recognize that, you'll never build a constituency that deals with the political challenges but withstands them and keeps going and avoids what happens now, particularly on the hill, where people want to earmark and slice up so they can protect one piece, because they are not sure the whole thing can be protected. we want a holistic approach to development, that can have a
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constituency in both the congress as well as the country that can enable us to, you know, keep making the case effectively. and we intend to to that. >> all right, i'm going to sneak in two more. byron and then ed. >> good to see you again. so i want to commend many things in the speech, particularly the emphasis of building the capacity of governments to deliver, governments and broader delivery system, outside of government, that's so important. but i also want to ask you about a bit of a tension, perhaps, between local ownership, genuine local ownership, and you said almost in the next sentence, sort of evidence-based approaches. so take water, for example. mckenzie did some work with the i.f.c. that looked at water scarcity across the river basins.
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on a business as usual basis, you have a 40% gap. also maps the marginal costs of those interventions to close that gap. but of course once you start getting down on the ground, it's a very political thing, it's not just about the technicalities or the evidence. how do you square that circle, as a matter of principle in our development work? >> water is a great example. water is going to be the source of increasing conflict and i think it's a perfect example of combining diplomacy and development. i would hope that sometime in the near future, we're able to have an international effort focused on water that takes some of the politics not out of it, but diminishes it, because it's not just about what this country is doing to that country but about what all countries are doing to themselves and that we try by using technical expertise and political efforts to begin to make the case that if we
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don't have a 21st century international water compact, for example, millions and millions of countries are going to not only be deprived of water, but you'll have more and more conflicts because of it. so i think you have to move on both fronts as the same time. you need the evidence-based technical exexpertise because what will we do in order to deal with the melting snow in the himalayas and the failure to replenish the major rivers of asia, or what will we do about the continuing struggles and conflicts between pastoralists and herders in much of north africa. there's lots of consequences. but i think we have to try to take it out of the finger pointing and bilateral or regional context and try to put it into a broader one. i'm very concerned about it and
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i will welcome, you know, the advice of the study group that you referred to from mckinsey, but i think it's something we've got to get on and get on it quickly. there are going to be wars fought over water in the next 10 years if we don't try to get ahead of this and look for ways to come up with as many win-win strategies as possible. not easy, but i think that, let's try to eliminate as many of theable aspects of this problem, leave -- as many of the solveable aspects of this problem leaving the hard core ones for the end game where we have to use leverage to force countries to make the decisions. >> sounds like a great diplomatic. ed, very, very quickly. >> we want to thank you for coming here, it's an organization, i know you are aware, made up of very high quality people ready to support
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you and administrator shaw in this effort. when i'm asked to talk about these issues, i'm asked, if you were to do one or two issues, what would you do? i say, increase the effectiveness and status of women in the society. there's nothing that would be highly impactful than that. then i go on to say something you didn't mention in your speech that is free trade. there's a study by one of our fellows that -- on trade, which basically postulates that 500 million people would be lifted immediately out of poverty if we had unfettered free trade. what are you thoughts about that issue? >> i mentioned trade because i do think trade is an important tool, but obviously didn't have the opportunity to go into it. i believe that we've got to resume a trade agenda and the political circumstances are
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challenging, but we have to try. i do, however, believe, you know, we talk about unfettered free trade. i do believe we have learned some things about the benefits from trade and we've learned some of the challenges we face, that, you know, in some of the sort of free trade agreements we've entered into the last several years, the benefits have not been broadly distributed. in fact, in several countries, the benefits of the free trade advantages have not only gone to a very small group, but they've gone to people who were imported in to do the work instead of the people from the country itself. i think we need to enter into a new trade agenda with as many lessons learned as possible. and that is, you know, my view, we're working on that in the state department and we have to make the case to our friends on
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the hill that the right kind of trade agreements are really in america's interest as well. we're going to -- we're going to revisit that and see if we can't be, you know, moving that up the agenda in this coming year. >> secretary clinton, for your ambition and your passion, on this issue in particular, we thank you. join me in thanking her. >> thank you so much. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2010]
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>> in a few moments, state of the state addresses by new york governor david patterson and governor schwarzenegger in california. in an hour, senator chris dodd announces he will not run for re-election. after that, admiral mike mullen on the role of the military. >> a couple of live events to tell you about tomorrow morning. the middle east policy council looks at u.s. policy in afghanistan with a panel that includes peter bergen. that's on c-span2 at 9 thirte
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eastern. also at 9:30, on c-span3, a rook at imgrigs' impact on the economy. >> the new c-span video library is a digital archive of c-span's programming. it's fast and free, try it out at c-span video.org. >> i'm always concerned about the potential unforeseen consequence, unattended consequences in new regulations. regulations of any kind act as attacks and -- as a tax, and when you tax or regulate something, you tend to get less of it. >> this weekend on the communicator, republican f.c.c. commissioner robert mcdowell on efforts to create a national broad band plan, net neutrality and the wireless industry, saturday at 6:30 p.m. eastern on c-span. >> over the next half-hour, new
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york governor david paterson's state of the state address he spoke in albany. >> thank you. before we begin, i would like to thank speaker silver and all his staff members who arranged wonderful accommodations for us and the cooperation of the staff of leader sampson's staff and his cooperation as well. it's become customary on occasions of this significance to recognize each and every public official in the room with congratulatory pronouncements and self-reflected praise. but my colleagues, the times are
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measured, and i would ask, with your understanding that we dispense with the flourishes and formalities and i would like to address all of you today just as fellow citizens of our great state. all equal under the eyes of god, all responsible to the people of the state of new york. whether our service be short-lived or long-remembered, this is a winter of reckoning. i come before you today not just to talk of the state of the state, but also of the state of our self-governance. a fragile instrument of popular will that has become the will to be popular. where it is easier to deny reality and to demand that which we cannot afford than to accept
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that years of living on the margins of our means have had to end. look at history. cultures of addiction, to spending, power, and approval have ruined empires and now they threaten the empire state. but i come here today not to replay old grievances, or in any way to reclaim lost ground, but we come here to build, to build new york's economy to a national model of ingenuity and strength. to build our people's trust in the fiscal stability of our state. to build our manufacturing, to meet the energy standards of this enlightened era, and most importantly, to build the trust that the people of new york once had in their state government. the last two budget battles have
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left its toll on all of us in this chamber and there are more deficits up ahead that will require an even greater sacrifice. but if acceptance really is the prelude to recovery, then we have to accept that the old way of doing budgets is unsustainable and so to the special interests who intimidate, who badger, and who push, when they don't get their way, even when they are aware that the cupboard is bare, the time for that type of politics has to end. we have to take -- [applause] we have to take firm and decisive steps to rebuild new
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york. we need fiscal reform, we need ethics refrm and we need an economic plan that will put new yorkers back to work. and so today, i am not just speaking of the state of the state as it is, but we are talking about what the state of the state will be. the plan i have placed before you turns this crisis into an invitation for leadership and the decision foremost in my mind every time i make one answers the question, are we doing what's right for the people of the state of new york? so in times of greater prosperity, the reforms we are proposing were ignored. prosperity hides all manner of sin. but no longer. we have to rise to the highest expectation of our people and bring them the lasting change
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they have long, long fought for and desired. there is no hierarchy in these reforms, they are all vital. our fiscal reforms will bring real and lasting change and by cutting our bureaucracy, by merging agencies that replicate services, public tracking of agency performance, and a long-term strategy for fiscal discipline and management. [applause] i have asked our knew lieutenant governor to take the lead in a four-year plan for fiscal recovery. it is the most reasonable way that we can actually bring state spending into line and government into the right size. it is also the only way to
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eliminate unnecessary, unfair, and unexpected mandates on local governments, hospitals, school districts, and mass transit. no longer are we going to run new york like a payday loan operation. and yes, i am renewing my call for a spending cap. i know -- [applause] now, i know that this will be met with a lot of resistance, but i fought 25 years to eradicate the rockefeller drug laws and i'll put that same effort into seeing this become a law even if it has to be passed by constitutional amendment. whether in this administration or the next or the one after that, we have got to find a procedure that cures the spending structure that has infected our budget process for the last 20 years, and the
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sooner we do that, the more control we'll have over spending, not less. for as you may have observed in the past few weeks, the governor will exercise authority to prevent this state from going into default. you have left me and other governors no choice, whether it be by vetoes or delayed spending, i will not write bad checks and we will not mortgage our children's future. [applause] but the legislature is the body of the people and the legislature should have an equal voice in deciding to hold spending in line with the times. after we have uncovered the sins of finance, we must address the chronic abuse of power.
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chronic and continuing experiences of outside influence and inside declay have bred cynicism and scorn of the people that we represent. this is why today i'm introducing comprehensive ethics reform, not drin by the illegal acts of any one person, but instead, by what's legal and rampant in our entire system of government. [applause] the reform albany act will have as its centerpiece an independent ethics commission that will have jurisdiction over state government. this commission will have the power to enforce campaign finance and pay -- end pay to play and finally bring jurisdiction and oversight to
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so-called good government groups who hide their donors behind walls of sanctimony. [applause] the reform albany agenda will significantly drive down campaign contributions, call for -- require openness of outside income, will strip public officials of their pensions who commit felonies, phase in gradually public campaign finance and will impose term limits on state office holders by constitutional amendment. now, i recognize that there will be significant pushback to this legislation. however, when i step back and just think about our role in
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government, my colleagues, how much more foresighted would it have been if we had instituted the right procedures to address unethical conduct and bad acts that have embarrassed us all. what has now happened is that the public wants bolder and more decisive initiatives in order to win back their trust. the inevitable goal of this legislation is to bring fairness and openness to government which has very little of either. the money interests, many of them here today as guests, have got to understand that their days of influence in this capitol are numbered. they have routinely demanded special treatment without any regard for others. no one person or group is above any others or more deserving of any more hardship and pain. the reality is that there is no
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moral high ground on trampling on others to get there and there's nothing lower than engaging in the currency of influence to the detriment of other new yorkers that don't have the same representation. [applause] now the third protocol in our desire to rebuild new york is that we bring our economy back to the greatness that it once held. with a focus on jobs for the new economy, for manufacturing meeting the energy standards we will need, for the whole idea of putting people back to work and a commitment to helping new yorkers raise themselves up, the fiscal and ethical reforms i have just outlined are integral
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to new york's economic comeback. we can attract businesses only if they believe in the integrity of state government. we can initiate job creation as long as our credit rating is strong. we can be competitive on property taxes if and only if we can keep spending down and we can restore money to school districts by alleviating the budget bubble that caused our economic problems in the first place. and so, to pull this all together, we are going to need an economic -- we're going to need an economic plan that actually suits the issues of our times and provides the jobs that new yorkers seek. no longer can we say, all roads lead to new york. for in the end, we are going to need the innovation, the ideas, and the ingenuity to be there as
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well. unfortunately, our enterprise zone program is no longer working. as i said last year, we're going to put it where it blodges, in the past. we are no longer going to provide tax credits for businesses that do not provide the jobs that we were promised. [applause] instead, we will replace it with the excelor program. -- the excelsior program. this will focus on the clean energy and high tech growth jobs of tomorrow this program will be sustainable, it will be -- it will be one that we will all be proud of because it will be open and it will be transparent. to develop this program, we went all around the state seeking out business leaders that would give
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us advice in all communities. we have come back with three aggressive initiatives targeted for growth industries such as clean energy, broadband, information systems and biotechnology. this combined with our 45 by 15 energy plan and a $25 million investment in a new technological fund for entrepreneurs will create the kind of encouragement for capital investment, will spur innovation and will create tens of thousands of jobs to go along with the a,000 jobs that will be realized from our great 45 by 15 energy plan which converts electric use to clean and renewable energy sources. we could not have gotten there unless a previous governor had already converted us to 20%,
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three times the national average, and he joins us today, it is governor george pataki. [applause] so the exellsor jobs program will be the centerpiece of the most aggressive jobs creation program in our state's history. but it's only one piece. we are emerging in new york toward an economy, an emerging economy, one based on knowledge, technology, and innovation. we are poised to lead this economy and we shall lead. we will create and we will support the environment of investment which is why our administration is working on a plan to bring first stage capital to first stage technological development. the five largest companies,
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patent-holding companies that exist right here in new york, average about $11 billion worldwide in research and development. the research and development tax credit will incentivize them to put more resources into new york and have a better relationship with our universities, both public and private. there is one challenge which right now is holding us back from the leadership in the new economy, but we feel we have an immediate solution. simply put, it is the transfer and sharing of information from research and development institutions along with the sources of investment. but from very little part of the public's money, very little taxpayer investment, we will be able to harness our government
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to marshal our command over technology, data, and our relationship with the university community to create a free and open exchange of ideas that will bring these ideas to market. there are many cutting edge concepts on the table just waiting to be developed into the engine of our economic future. we will also go back to the historic manufacturing industry and make it whole again. with tax credits and also with retrofits for small businesses work a reformed power for jobs program and a cutting edge and groundbreaking concept of buying up, retrofitting and reselling abandoned manufacturing sites. in addition -- [applause]
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we will not forget the hundreds of thousands of trades and manufacturing and construction jobs that will be necessary for this process. we also have to address the decades in which upstate new york has suffered in recession long before the rest of new york and the country got there. we will do it by extending the erie canal research and development corridor. also we want to make upstate the back office for corporate america, particularly the franchises that are located down state. [applause] this region is clearly one that has demonstrated that they have what the rest of the country doesn't have, which is available housing stock. close-by schools. natural beauty. and the untouched small towns
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that families would cherish. we've got to go back to promoting it that way. also, the effort we're making for sustainable and -- for sustainable communities with thousands of housing stocks laying dormant in cities like buffalo, rochester and syracuse. we will development that housing sfock into affordable housing, starting with buffalo, which right now has 23,000 vacant units. [applause] earlier today, assemblyman wrilingt and i attended the funeral of former assemblyman, borough president, civil rights lawyer and world war ii fighter pilot sutton. he was a friend and mentor to me
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but one who was held in high esteem all around this state and this country. but nearly a half century ago, when no one else was talking about it, he was a lone voice that advocated for the power of economic opportunity as the key to advancement. new york state's economic development program has to make sure that it covers all corners of our boundaries. it is known historically that women and minority-owned businesses have not had the opportunities for the resources from the state to flourish. but i was wondering if you knew how bad it actually was. when i was a candidate for office, for statewide office in 2006, i read a department of economic development report that noted that at that time, women and minority businesses in the areas of state procurement were receiving only 5% in total of
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the contracts. to be specific, women who are 51.8% of the population and were 29.2% of the firms that were approved in advance, got 2.64% of the contracts. but it gets worse. hispanic americans, 8.5% of the threshold vendors, meaning that they had capital, they had been certified, they passed all the tests, received .74 -- 3/4 of one percent of the contracts. african-americans, .66, 2/3's of the deals. african-american women, .13. i don't even know what fraction that is of one percent but i knew to start a task force on minority and women's business enterprises in june, 2008. here are the results.
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[applause] we have quadrupled the mwbe participation and the minority firms that are investment banking and involve the issuance of debts went from 4.2% mwb in 2007 to where they stand now, 23.9%. [applause] since i have taken office, minority and women firms have yielded $152 million of profit over where they were at that particular time. we do not want them to miss out on the new opportunities involving stimulus money and also our new economy programs, which is why we will synchronize
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mwbe into any action the state takes. i was visiting business leaders in long island in 2007 and they were white business leaders and they said to me, how can we get into the mwbe program because the state ignores most of us as well? the reality is that businesses run by people of all colors have not been flourishing under new york state's government system of in july of 2009, we initiated the small business task force. they put their findings on my desk on december 1 of last year and we are already starting to implement them. the biggest obstacles to small business are startup costs. so we will try a tried and true remedy, we will create a revolving loan program so these engines of our economy, vital as
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they are, will have the capital that they need to thrive. and finally, there are a number of incentives, both large and small, that i have put in front of you, including the people first incentive, the one that will now -- will allow vulnerable new citizens that come to new york the opportunity to be able to locate services for which they otherwise would not have been aware. and one of our administration's boldest endeavors, which would be this to the rebuild the new york insurance exchange. by bringing together the buyers and sellers of complex commercial insurance, the exchange will reaffirm our status as the focal point of international trade and -- trade and finance. it will also curtail the
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transactions, the types of transarkses that were unregulated, that decimated the global economy. new york being at the epicenter of so much that went terribly wrong in 2008, we as new yorkers have to take responsibility for america and around the world to take the lead in rebuilding and reform of these vital global markets. [applause] so this is the state of the state as it will be. we will come full circle, from the chaos of our own state budget to rebuilding our state and our country pursuant to the chaos of a national meltdown. the plan that i put before you is a plan that will make us stronger. it will grow our economy and put new yorkers back to work.
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who would ever imagine on that cold day in january in 2007 that we would be faced with so many challenges trying to rebuild and restore faith. but here we are with the scars to prove it. some say we will not succeed. historian -- that our story has already been written and the ending is ordained. but story lines change and people change. when i spoke on television to new yorkers in july of 2008, i warned that a withering economy would drive costs up and revenues down. that the faster we addressed this, the stronger and sooner we would recover from this crisis. there are those who said there was not a crisis and when it hit, there were other that still refused to act. but i say to all of you today there is still time to rebuild the empire state.
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[applause] i say to the elected members of the legislature, work with me, follow me, so that new york can turn the corner. i know a lot about adversity and the state -- and mistakes can be made. but if you stand true to your principles and honestly accept reality for what it is, you can get to a better place. because there is always an opportunity to remake ourselves and our state. that is the promise of new york. new yorkers have arisen from economic perils before. new yorkers have rebuilt after disasters, natural and manmade. but every time the capacity of our hope has been questioned, every time our faith has been challenged, every time we have
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come to a hill that seemed too steep, we have common straited an undeniable ability to achieve and a desire and determination to endure. and so, once again, we have to rebuild. but we will reignite the engine of our economy. we will be able to win back the public trust of the people who we represent. and we will rebuild new york. but we have to work together and in these times of struggle, i remember the enduring faith of a child who grew up in a world of darkness who chooses to believe in something bigger than himself or herself. and in spite of adversity and doubts of others, they can find strength and humility and perseverance.
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and so can all of us. thank you so much for attending. thank you for listening. god bless all of you. god bless the people of new york. [applause] [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2010] [applause] >> now from sacramento, the state of the state address from california governor arnold schwarzenegger. this is a half-hour. >> thank you. thank you very much. thank you.
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>> thank you very much. thank you. thank you. thank you, senator collinsworth, secretary of state cohen, insurance commissioner, superintendent of public instruction, memberses of the board of equalization, all my cabinet secretaries, my chief of staff, susan kennedy, and members of the legislature. it's good to see everyone here together again. i would like to introduce a few guests i have up in the gallery, first of all, my wife and first lady, marie va -- maria shriver with our four children. [applause]
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us. we can see the light coming. we asked the legislature to join me in finding the deal. we can meet the current promises and to reduce the growth in going forward. these are serious issues that we face. every year in spite of what challenges we see, i stand up here and tell you how much i believe in california's future. i tell you how much i believe in a dream. this is the greatest place in the world. some people say that is me being optimistic. did an article about california that sounded like one of my speeches. allied to preeti with the sentences that "time" magazine wrote. california is still a green state. it is a mega state.
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it fills the future economically and in democratically and politically it is the greenest and most of first state and the most globalized. it is the mecca of biotech and clean decorative. it would wipe out the economy. now deeply me? this is the greatest days in the world. california has the means in my power to solve all the problems. sometimes we are too close to the problems to see the positive. we need to step back. a couple of months ago i was in iraq visiting our men and women in uniform. it is the second time i have been over there.
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we have some many californians over there. i had breakfast with them. we chatted. i've come to them up and the pictures with them. they told me all kinds of stories. they are experiences the mckenna even believe. many has served tour after tour after a tour. some of last homes, spouses, limbs, and their lives. too often our soldiers claim that the enemy with them in their head. we are seeing in hearing all of the posttraumatic stress syndrome. the suicide rate is high. this country cannot live in denial but these things. the men and women need help. california has more veterans -- [applause]
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california has more returning veterans than any other state. we have a special responsibility. we have a fundamental obligation to anyone you betcha or wrist blood for this country. that is a priority. [applause] their sacrifice is extraordinary. in never fails to inspire me. if you look to the gallery, you will see some california's wearing the uniform of our country that just came back from iraq and afghanistan. i say, will come home. welcome home. -- welcome home. welcome home. [applause]
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no matter how big the problem is far, no matter how are -- how harsh things may seem, those california's in uniform with a view that this is still the greatest place to come home to and the greatest place to pursue a better life. just ask them how often they have dreamt of being back at come in the golden state. ladies and gentlemen, we must fulfill our sacred trust to keep
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iconic branches of government. go beyond the building roads of tours. explore the history, art and architecture of the capital. american icons, a treatise dvd said. it is $24.95. it is led the many items available at c-span.org/store. >> connecticut senator chris dodd will not run for reelection. he has been in office since 1981. he has had a major role in the senate health care debate. >> have the new year. good morning to everyone. every six years, over the past three decades, i have invited you to join me in seeking
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reelection to the united states senate. on each of these occasions, i have begun my remarks by observing that every important journey begins and ends at home. today is no exception. what is different about today is not to announce the beginning of yet another campaign of the senate but to announce after 35 years of representing the people of connecticut in congress that i will not be a candidate for reelection this november. i want to begin these brief remarks by expressing my deepest gratitude to the wonderful people of connecticut for their remarkable privilege in being elected eight times over the past four decades in our national assembly. you have honored me beyond words. let me quickly add there have been times when my actions have caused some of you to question that confidence. i regret that. it is equally important that you
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know i have never wavered in my determination to do the best job to our state and nation. i love my job as your signature. i always have. i still do. this past year has raised some challenges that insisted i take stock of my life. over the past, and, i have managed for major pieces of legislation to the united states congress, served as chair of two major senate committees, placing me at the center of the two most important issues of our time -- healthcare and reform of financial services. i lost a beloved sister in july. in august, i lost ted kennedy. i battled cancer over the summer. in the middle of all of this, i found myself in the toughest political shape of my career. but to me be clear. i am very aware of my present political standing. as equally clear, that any
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certain predictions about a victory or defeat with a year from now would be absurd. strange as it may sound, i am not confident that i will be standing here today making this announcement if the situation had not occurred. none of these events are circumstances either individually or collectively it is my decision not to seek reelection. these challenges have given me pause to ask questions that too few of us ever do. why am i running? on a cold morning, i asked myself that very question bri. on december 24, christmas eve, the snow piled high along the streets of our nation's capital. i cast one of the most important vote of my years in the united states senate.
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it is a bill that is fundamentally reform the health- care system of our nation. an hour later, i was standing on the virginia hillside at the arlington cemetery where ted kennedy rest along with his brothers in eternity as he is in history. i wish i could have seen the look and teddy's eyes when the senate to that historic step an hour before. i thought about the dozens of five public servants, and democrats and republicans who have joined me in serving connecticut over the course of my career at the local, state, and national level. i thought about the countless connecticut families, ordinary people with extraordinary spirit, whose lives have touchy over the years and whose stories have affected my decisions. i thought of the dozens of senators with whom i've had the pleasure of serving. it is an institution i dearly
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love. i have been a connecticut senator for 30 years i am proud of the job i have done. none of us is irreplaceable. none of us are indispensable. this is think otherwise a dangerous. the work to make our nation a more perfect union began long before i was elected to the senate. it will go on long after i am gone. our country is a work in progress. i am confident it always will be. that is what i thought about as i stood on that hillside in arlington on christmas eve morning. that is what i talked about with jackie over this holiday season. that is how i came to the conclusion that the long see the american history there are moments for each elected public official to step aside and let someone else to step up. this is my moment to step aside. there will be time to reflect a
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more details on the years i have spent some public service. there will be time to celebrate victories and more and setbacks, a share last and memories and to gain profusely the talented, tireless, and numerous others, many of them are here today to lead made by senate work possible. that time is not now. i still have one year left of the contract. one year from this week, our state will have a new united states senator. in the meantime, we have important work today. a few closing thought. i believe in bipartisan solutions. i also believe you can only achieve those results with my friends, robust, and civil partisan debate. i am a democrat and very proud of my party's contributions to the vitality and strength of america. ellen never have had the of the urgency to serve in congress had not had the support and backing
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of my political party in connecticut over these years. i appreciate the passionate people who of never faltered in the support of my efforts. alexei thank you to my family for their tolerance of yet another generation of our family. i am especially indebted to jackie for her fierce loyalty, unyielding commitment to fairness, and capacity and the to the needs of others. she is truly been my anchor in these waters. there is nothing more pathetic than a politician who announces that their only leaving public life to spend more time with their family. the result i hope will greet that opportunity. it is not the reason for my decision. i'm a very late arrival and fatherhood. i'm told repeatedly that these young children, 8 and 4 will grow of a very fast.
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while they are not the reason for my decision, and they will be an incredible benefit to the choice and made today. i am still driven by the same passions that motivated me to try my hand at politics so many years ago. just as i have encouraged the people of connecticut, i am looking to the future with a spirit of optimism and confidence. i thank you alamance lead for the opportunity given me to serve. i thank you all very much. [applause] > [inaudible]
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>> they announced a one not -- they will not seek reelection this year. first, chris dodd of connecticut. why did he say he will be retiring? >> what he said is less important than what is really true about chris dodd's political future, that it was fading fast. he has one of the most remarkable declined in popularity in any senior democrats. he went from a virgil
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institution in connecticut to the most endangered democrat on the ballot. he had a remarkable decline when he decided to run for president in 2000 in an action that too is politically safe in moving his family from connecticut to iowa. that started the voters getting a little annoyed with him and is sticking up for the insurance industry. all these things have combined to really put his career very much on the line. >> how does that change the face of the senate race in connecticut? who would be likely candidates? >> the democratic candidates seems almost certain to be richard blumenthal who is in a
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rising star for 30 years. he has been seen as an obvious statewide candidates. he has never before action run for statewide office. he always thought it was thnot the right time. now it is the right time. the republicans at this hour have to viable candidates that were planning on running against chris dodd. he lost a few years ago. the other is a former executive of the world wrestling federation. she said chiselling to spend $30 million of her own money on the race. -- she is willing to spend $30 million of her own money on the race. kinetic politics are as a mixup
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-- connecticut politics are as mixed up in crazy as they always are. chris dodd seemed to have handwritten on the while for many months. by renegade indications that he wanted to run again for a fourth term. he expressed some frustration with the way things were going in washington, and not on the nation of partisanship but the whole competitive nature of how things had become even more competitive he was somewhat of a critic. he likes to lecture. he would be a -- he had lots of different options in front of him. >> is north dakota a possible
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republican pick up in the senate? >> it absolutely is. the to the we are talking about, one has gone from republican to democrat. this other one from heavily favored democrat to probably republican. the popular governor of north dakota has been talked about a senatorial candidates for many years. he is never decided to run. he was reluctant to take on byron. now he will probably be talked into doing it. >> are you expecting any more surprise announcement? >> i am not. that is what makes them surprises. it is getting way for senators to pull this kind of surprises. it is not do your party favor if they have to raise money at this late stage in the calendar. >> how does the 60 votes for the
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democrats shape up in 2010? >> i think it is a safe bet that harry reid for his successor as majority leader will not have 60 votes to work with. that seems a pretty good prediction. republicans will pick up a couple of seats. >> david hawkins, managing editor of "cq weekly." >> now admiral mike mullen at the washington center for intern's today. he spoke about the role of the military. this is a little less than an hour. >> our program continues with a
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is the principal military adviser for the principle of the night -- president of the united states. admiral mulliken has had a long career. and distinguished career, he served in a capacity of great responsibility at the naval academy, he had operational experience with nato, but the thing that actually struck me most about his resume was the fact that he was the skipper of three u.s. navy warships. you think to yourself, now, what's the connection between being on the bridge of a fleet oiler or cruiser or a destroyer and being the principal military advisor to the president of the united states? i think it's this. that if you're on the bridge of a u.s. navy warship, you're a person in whom reposes ultimate responsibility and accountability. if you have a cross-eyed steersman who puts your ship
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into another vessel, if you run up on a sand bar, it's all your responsibility, you're held accountable for it. this high level of accountability and responsibility is the kind of virtue that someone like admiral mullen brings to this incredibly important office. the responsibilities are closal. i'm sure there are -- are colossal. i'm sure there are time when he thought to himself, i'm not sure i signed up for this cruise. he has been unique among recent chairmen of the joint chief of staff as being remarkably accessible to the public. we're thrilled to have him here and i'd like you to welcome admiral mike mullen, chairman of the joint chiefs of staff. [applause]
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>> if you don't mind, i'll try to work it from here. just doing a little preplation and -- preparation and listening to the president talk about who you are and what you're rooking at over the course of a few week, it's an exciting curriculum. i'll talk about a few things for maybe 15 minutes, 15 to 20 minutes and then open it up to questions. i'm particularly excited and
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